Altimeter is phenomenal

Former Member over 8 years ago

I've been very impressed with the 5X's altimeter. Today is a great example of why.

I have auto-calibrate turned off. I calibrated it manually yesterday, at home. Today a friend and I drove two hours through a storm to hike; the trailhead was at approximately 1,300 feet and we made it to the 4,000 level where we ultimately lost the trail under deep snow with more falling out of the sky on us. We turned back, the weather improved when we left the mountains, and were in the sun on the drive back. My home is 60 feet above MSL; when I got home the watch reported 52 feet.

With the wildly changing weather and 2,800 feet of ascent and descent, to be wrong by only 8 feet is amazing.

0 NYanakiev7 over 8 years ago

Sounds almost too good to be true! Nice!

0 Liam01752 over 8 years ago

Still seeing some drift on mine when at home Nowhere near as bad as my 3HR.
Auto Calibrate off but Altimeter drifts 40M below and up to 2ooM above current altitude. Only recently noticed this happening. True Altitude should be 79M.

0 Former Member over 8 years ago

My F3 HR's altimeter was thrown off by water. Every shower I took made the watch think I was about 200 feet higher than I really was, for about an hour, then it would dry out and report the correct altitude. Very annoying, even if workable.

The F5X is not fooled this way, it's very reliable, as well as being precise out in the field.

0 newtonfb over 8 years ago

I agree. I had the F3, a couple actually, before returning it and the Altimeter is one of the most important features to me. It was all over the place and never right. With the 5x, its right on the money. I love it

0 Former Member over 8 years ago

I walk to work every day via the same route.

It takes me up a short hill, along some flat park area and then into the building; I then go down 1 floor to the lower ground, buy a Starbucks (yes, we have one in the building) and then I walk up 5 floors worth of stairs to the floor where I teach.

Without fail; the watch vibrates and alerts me to hitting my 10 floor goal when i'm between floors 2 and 3 every day.

0 Former Member over 8 years ago

I've been very impressed with the 5X's altimeter. Today is a great example of why.

I have auto-calibrate turned off. I calibrated it manually yesterday, at home. Today a friend and I drove two hours through a storm to hike; the trailhead was at approximately 1,300 feet and we made it to the 4,000 level where we ultimately lost the trail under deep snow with more falling out of the sky on us. We turned back, the weather improved when we left the mountains, and were in the sun on the drive back. My home is 60 feet above MSL; when I got home the watch reported 52 feet.

With the wildly changing weather and 2,800 feet of ascent and descent, to be wrong by only 8 feet is amazing.

This only means that the atmospheric pressure at your home was quite stable during the day.
To see if F5 works fine, you must check altitude readings of your watch during your trip with topo maps data or known altitude value for a certain place.